Current Issues In Language Planning
Polity Editors: Robert B. Kaplan (University of Southern California), Richard B. Baldauf Jr. (University of Queensland) and Nkonko Kamwangamalu (Howard University)Bob and Dick are also editors of the book series Language Policy and Planning
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Volume: 8 Number: 3 Page: 324–343
doi:10.2167/cilp118.0
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Language Planning in Singapore: On Pragmatism, Communitarianism and Personal Names
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Wendy D. Bokhorst-Henga and Lionel Weeb
aCentre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice, National Institute for Education, Singapore and bDepartment of English Language and Literature, National University of Singapore
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Singapore's annual Speak Mandarin Campaign has been largely successful in shifting the language patterns of its Chinese citizens from Chinese dialects to Mandarin in all sectors. However, there has been a notable exception: the effort to have Chinese Singaporeans give their children Mandarin names, rather than dialect ones. In this paper, we analyse this ‘blip’; in government policy implementation, arguing that it provides important insights into (1) what Singaporeans consider to be acceptable limits of the campaign's parameters, and (2) how Singaporeans manage the seeming contradiction between accepting Mandarin as a mother tongue, but not having Mandarin (Pinyinised) names. The discourses of pragmatism and communitarianism employed by the government in rationalising its language policies provide a basis for this analysis.
Keywords: Speak Mandarin Campaign, pragmatism, communitarianism, Singapore, personal names, Speak Good English Movement
W.D. Bokhorst-Heng & L. Wee
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